News

Is any type of media - written,
photography, film exploiting the state of the poor to generate sympathy to
collect charitable donations or support for a particular cause. Usually used to
highlight poverty in African and the urgency to donate for children in
order not to die of hunger.

As Emily
Roenigk reveals in her work and articles - There is a
similar problem with the way we represent the poor in our media, exploiting
their condition and even their suffering for financial gain. As we often do
with the objectification of women, we need to pause and ask ourselves whether
it is ethical to depict the graphic qualities of a human being to Western
audiences for the sole purpose of eliciting an emotional experience and
ultimately, money. This way poverty porn takes shape and
it does almost nothing to address the real structural problem of poverty.

Along the way, the effects of this
practice became more and more clear and obvious so here are five major issues
that describe the concept of poverty porn:

1. Poverty
porn misrepresents poverty

Poverty is a result of both individual
and systemic problems, involving not only personal circumstances but the social
and justice systems in place that either work to empower the poor or perpetuate
their condition.

According to critic Diana
George, organizations have a hard time convincing Western audiences that
real poverty exists outside their day-to-day life in a culture that is
completely saturated by images. She writes that showing extreme despair may
seem like the only solution. Poverty porn shows grotesque crises, often through
individual stories, that audiences can easily mend through a simple solution or
donation. Poverty porn makes a complex human experience understandable,
consumable and easily treatable.

2. Poverty porn leads to charity, not activism.

This kind of
giving has the potential to make significant impacts once in the hands of
organizations that address poverty in a sustainable way. However, it
perpetuates dangerous ideologies along the way that do more harm than good. It
tells the poor that they are helpless beneficiaries and it tells financially
secure donors that they are the saviors. In this dynamic, donors are told that
they are the only ones with the ability to make a difference. Nothing is said
about what it would look like to empower the poor and walk alongside them to
help them realize their inherent ability to be the change agents in their own
communities.

3. Poverty porn misrepresents the poor

George writes, “In such images, poverty is dirt and rags and helplessness.” In reality, poverty has “many faces” and no simple solution. Poverty doesn’t only look like a starving child
with flies on his face. In fact, poverty doesn’t look any particular way. It is
multi-faceted and should be depicted as such. Reporter Tom Murphy writes, “Suffering is a part of poverty, as is good news, as is a
family sitti